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FC Dallas

The opening weekend of the 2014-2015 US Youth Soccer National League took place in Wilson, NC last weekend and the FC Dallas Premier U17 & U18 teams went undefeated in eight combined games. The teams will meet again in Florida in late December as they look to book a ticket to the National Championships in Tulsa in 2015. Here's a recap of the action:

FC Dallas 97 U18 Premier boys go 4-0 at National League play behind five goals from Sergio Lara

97 Premier defeated Fullerton Rangers 2-1 with Sergio Lara and Jose Benitez scoring in their first match. They followed that up with a 2-0 win over Albion SC White behind two more goals from Lara.

In their third match, 97 Premier defeated Chicago Fire Raiders Elite 4-1 with Lara scoring two more goals and Reece Schattle and Matt Rochowski scoring the other two goals.

They wrapped the perfect week up with a 3-0 win over Classics Eagles behind goals from Schattle, Rochowski and Alan Salazar.

FC Dallas 98 U17 Premier boys to 1-0-3 at National League opening week

FC Dallas 98 Premier openeed the week with a1-1 draw against SC del Sol 98 with Gerber Chavez scoring the goal for FCD. Next up was a 3-3 draw against Fullerton Rangers White behind two goals from Luis ZuaZua and a strike from Matthew Gonzalez.

In their third match, FCD 98 Premier tied Baltimore Celtic behind a strike from Gonzalez.

Finally, the 98s scored their first win of the week on the last day beating the Chicago Magic PSG Preacademy 6-0 with a hat trick from Adan Garcia and goals from Chavez, Gonzalez and Keegan McCombie.

FC Dallas added another piece to the 2015 roster on Thursday, acquiring former San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Atiba Harris in phase two of the 2014 MLS Re-Entry Draft.

Harris will be a very familiar name to long-time FC Dallas fans as he played 41 matches from 2009-2010 for the club, scoring six goals while adding an assist and appearing in three matches on the 2010 MLS Cup run.

Harris, who turns 30 on January 9, scored four goals in 2014 for San Jose to finish second on their goal-scoring charts behind Chris Wondolowski. The veteran midfielder has appeared in 191 MLS games during his nine-year MLS career, scoring 26 goals and 22 assists.

FCD and Harris will have to agree to a contract before he can be officially added to the roster, as players selected in phase two of the Re-Entry Draft have not had their 2015 contract options guaranteed.

None of the three FC Dallas players eligible (Jair Benitez, Adam Moffat and Hendry Thomas) were chosen and will now become free agents.

It's a great feeling to know that @FCDallas have selecting me in the re-entry draft. What a great club. Maybe some unfinished business???

Anyone going through draft withdrawls? It's been almost a week since we had one.

Well fear not because at 2:00PM today the MLS Re-Entry Draft phase two takes place and this one has usually seen pretty decent movement.

More than three times as many players have been picked in phase two(43) of the draft historically than phase one(14), because you are allowed to negotiate a contract with the player you picked rather than having to guarantee the 2015 option.

In 2012, FCD acquired defender Stephen Keel through this mechanism, so there is certainly a chance Dallas could add a player at today's draft.

The USMNT is returning to Toyota Stadium for the first time since March 28, 2007 in the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup curtain-raiser and it's both a long overdue return and a well-deserved reward for the Dallas sports fans who have taken soccer support to another level in the last year.

While the USMNT has played twice at Toyota Stadium, it is fair to say neither match was the marquee game we will see at Toyota Stadium on July 7th as the national team begins their 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup quest which Jurgen Klinsmann has called "the number one priority for the senior National Team in 2015."

Let's take a look at the two other times the USMNT has played at Toyota Stadium:

February 19, 2006 - USMNT 4, Guatemala 0

The first-ever visit of the national team to a brand new Toyota Stadium(then Pizza Hut Park) was played in absolutely frigid winter conditions as anyone who was at the USWNT game against New Zealand can relate to. It was even colder than that.

A USMNT squad beginning their 2006 World Cup preparation featured a mix of both young and old with Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan making his debut while stalwarts like Brian Ching, Frankie Hejduk and Ben Olsen also suited up for Bruce Arena's team.

A surprisingly robust crowd saw Ben Olsen open the scoring with a beautiful volley with Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson and Chris Klein rounding out the scoring.

(If you can name that full starting XI, you're a true US Soccer old schooler).

March 28, 2007 - USMNT 0, Guatemala 0

Just a year later, Guatemala returned to Toyota Stadium for another friendly against the USMNT, though this one was played on a Wednesday night with what can only be described as a weakened USMNT squad beginning to prepare for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

The weekend matchup saw fan favorite Kenny Cooper and others like Frank Simek and Justin Mapp make some of their only USMNT appearances in the goalless draw.

Just one more camp stands between Tab Ramos' US U-20 National Team and CONCACAF U-20 World Cup Qualifying set to begin on January 9th in Jamaica.

Kellyn Acosta has once again been called in to camp in Honduras which will be the final tune-up before things get really serious. Here's the release from US Soccer:

CHICAGO (Dec. 12, 2014) – U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos has named a roster for the USA’s final foreign training camp of the year from Dec. 15-22 in Honduras.

Nineteen players are headed to the camp, which will feature matches against the Honduras U-20s on Dec. 18 and 21 at Morazan Stadium in San Pedro Sula. The Dec. 18 game kicks off at 4 p.m. local (5 p.m. ET) and the Dec. 21 match at 2 p.m. local (3 p.m. ET).

This is the U-20 MNT’s final foreign training camp of the year before turning its focus on the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship starting Jan. 9 in Jamaica.

The USA roster for Honduras features nine of the 10 players who took part in the U-20 MNT’s recent domestic fitness camp from Dec. 3-10 in Bradenton, Florida.

The group also includes midfielders Russell Canouse and Romain Gall, who are the only two players to feature in all seven of the U-20 MNT’s international matches this year. Canouse leads the team with six starts and Gall is tied for third on the U-20s with two goals, both of which came during the USA’s 4-3 victory against Russia’s U-21 national team on Nov. 12 in Marbella, Spain.

The goalkeeping tandem of Santiago Castaño and Zack Steffen has accounted for six of the USA’s seven starts this year. Steffen, who officially signed with Bundesliga club SC Freiburg on Friday, has posted shutouts in both of his matches – a 4-0 win against Bermuda and a scoreless draw against Australia en route to the NTC Invitational title – and Castaño had a clean sheet during the USA’s 1-0 win against the Republic of Ireland on Nov. 15.

The USA roster includes 18 players with ties to the Development Academy.

The U-20 MNT is 4-1-2 in international competition and 10-2-2 overall in 2014.

Following the Honduras camp, the U-20s will hold a pre-World Cup qualifying camp in Florida before departing for the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. The USA opens Group A play at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship against Guatemala on Jan. 9 at Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica (5:30 p.m. ET kickoff).

MLS hasn't had a draft in nearly 48 hours, so it's time for another one!

Today is phase one of the MLS Re-Entry Draft which is a mechanism put in place with the new CBA that tries to somewhat simulate a free agency system. Here's the basics for the draft that takes place at 2:00PM:

Who is eligible?

Players who are at least 23 years old and have a minimum of three years’ experience in MLS whose options were not exercised by their clubs (available at option salary for 2015).

Players who are at least 25 years old with a minimum of four years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not wish to re-sign them at their previous salary (available for at least their 2014 salary).

Players who are at least 30 years old with a minimum of eight years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not wish to re-sign them (available for at least 105% of their 2014 salary).

What is Phase One?

First off, it's not a card game, and secondly, it's the part of the re-entry draft where only a few players are taken because all players selected in today's draft must have their 2015 contract option fully exercised. In phase two, teams can negotiate, but today's draft would mean you have to guarantee the player for 2015.

The FC Dallas Academy wrapped up their 2014 schedule with the USSDA Winter Showcase held in Florida over Thanksgiving weekend. We talked to our coaches and players about how the weekend went as the Academy went up against some of the best in MLS.

PLEASE NOTE, tomorrow is the last day the FCD Team Store will be open before Christmas so if you select in-store pickup make sure you go by the store tomorrow to pick it up and while you're there you can take advantage of our 12 hours of Christmas offer and score even more discounts!

The 2014 MLS Expansion Draft came and went with one FC Dallas player selected, but maybe not the one that some expected.

Defender George John was selected by New York City FC in the seventh round of the MLS Expansion Draft with FCD subsequently protecting defender Stephen Keel. No other FCD players were selected and FC Dallas will receive an undisclosed amount of allocation money with George John heading to the big apple.

George played 119 games with FC Dallas over six seasons, but missed the entire 2014 campaign through injuries.

George scored six goals and added an assist in his time with FCD as well as scoring in the 2010 Western Conference Final win at Los Angeles.